Surviving 2 Plane Rides and 1 Road Trip With a 19 Month Old

I'm going to try my best not to mince words here. We took a 5 hour plane ride with Small Human to Canada and back again. While there, we also took a 5 hour road trip. We must be crazy, but it had to be done. How did we survive? Distraction, distraction, distraction.

What We Brought With Us:

1. A set of small nesting cups. I have no idea why toddlers are into these, but they are.

2. Travel-sized magnetic doodler. It cost $8 and bought us lots of time.

3. One brand new electronic toy. You might thing it'll be obnoxious for other passengers, but keep in mind how loud planes get, as my friend Amy reminded me. His laptop even saved the sanity of one of the other mommies on the plane! I share happily but always keep non-toxic sanitizing wipes on me.

4. Snacks! I brought cheese and crackers, peanut butter cracker sandwiches, and Chex Mix. Crunchy things take longer to eat, are fun to put into nesting cups, and can't get smushed messily into hair and clothes (yours and your toddler's).

5. A plush buckle toy. Seriously, this thing was the best twenty bucks I ever spent in my life. Small Human loves this toy to this day, and it has saved our sanity many a time since acquiring it. If your kid is into snapping buckles and doing up zippers, this is the toy for you. He will sit with this turtle, who we have lovingly named "Snap", for 20 minutes at a time, several times a day. It's amazing. There are many different variations of the same type of toy, but I liked the turtle because it also has numbers on it, hidden under the straps.

It won't be easy, but it can be manageable if you are prepared! Schedule those naps accordingly, and we highly recommend getting bulkhead seats, even if it costs a little bit more. That one foot of extra space is a lifesaver when you have a squirmy Little.